Half of US adults live in households that lost income in pandemic – Health News Today

By health&beauty Last updated Sep 30, 2020

Here’s the latest: Half of US adults live in households that lost income from jobs.

That’s what the Census Bureau found in its most recent weekly survey — conducted from July 2 through July 7 — that’s tracking the virus’ impact on the nation.

In some states, even more residents are affected. In Hawaii, which depends on tourism, the share is 61.6%, while in Nevada, where all the casinos had shut down, it’s 59.7%. New York and California came in at 58.2% and 57.5%, respectively.

Some places fared relatively better. They include: the District of Columbia at 34.6%, North Dakota at 36.1%, Iowa at 39% and Idaho at 39.4%.

Some 20.5 million Americans lost their jobs in April — the swiftest and steepest decline on record. Although more than 7 million people found work in May and June, the unemployment rate was 11.1% last month, the highest since World War II.

And the recent surge in cases is likely to mean even more layoffs and hardship, especially when combined with the shaky finances of larger companies, several of which have recently announced sweeping job cuts or massive potential downsizings.

A toll on well-being

The Census survey also reveals the toll the pandemic is taking on Americans’ well-being.

Nearly 35% of adults expect a loss in employment income. More than 25% either missed last month’s rent or mortgage payment, or had slight or no confidence that their household could make the next payment on time.

Close to 11% of Americans lived in households where there was either sometimes or often not enough to eat in the previous seven days. And just over 40% of adults had delayed getting medical care in the prior four weeks.

The pandemic is also affecting people’s mental health.

Nearly a quarter of respondents reported having little interest or pleasure in doing things more than half of last week or nearly every day. And almost one-third said they felt anxious or nervous over the same period.

Get real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.

The meaning of health has evolved over time. In keeping with the biomedical perspective, early definitions of health focused on the theme of the body’s ability to function; health was seen as a state of normal function that could be disrupted from time to time by disease. An example of such a definition of health